The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, in a move to strengthen its management team, has created a new post and named marketing and media executive Matt Cooper as the chief marketing officer for the association.

At the same time, the organisation has promoted long-time director of operations and events Vanessa Ledesma to the position of chief operating officer.

The announcements were made by Frank Comito, newly named chief executive and director general of CHTA.

Cooper will start his new position on March 16th, 2015.

He will work with Comito and the CHTA staff to grow the membership base, develop new strategic partners, attract corporate sponsors, reenergise existing CHTA events and introduce new events that meet the needs of CHTA’s entire membership comprised of over 600 hotels and 300 allied members.

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“Matt Cooper’s experience in developing successful and innovative marketing campaigns for individual destinations and hotels coupled with his vast knowledge of the region will provide a positive impact on the growth of CHTA, especially with partnerships and marketing,” said Comito.

Cooper’s career has spanned 20 years in the Caribbean where he has successfully created cross-platform media partnerships between the region’s private and public sector tourism entities and leading media brands including The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveller, Bon Appetit, Brides, Smithsonian and Travel Agent Magazine.

Cooper has been an allied member of CHTA for more than 15 years and has served on the board of directors since 2009.

He helped create CHTA’s first strategic partnership with a media company - Travel Agent Magazine - and brought other media brands to the table to sponsor Caribbean Travel Marketplace through the years.

The CHTA facilitates the full potential of the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry by serving members’ needs and building partnerships in a socially responsible and sustainable manner.

CHTA is the voice of the Caribbean hospitality industry for the development of the region in the highly competitive and sophisticated environment of international tourism.

Today, tourism is widely recognised as a pivotal industry in the economy of the region - and CHTA functions as the common denominator for this industry in a region of diverse nationalities, languages and styles, identifying mutual problems and marshalling the resources of the active and allied members to devise solutions.

CHTA represents all facets of the hospitality industry with more than 600 member hotels and over 300 allied members.